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Description
The AQUABREAK (Aquaculture Living Breakwater for Coastal Protection and Sea Decarbonization) project intends to develop a patented eco-friendly multi-purpose nature-based solution (NBS), combining offshore aquaculture and coastal protection, by promoting wave energy dissipation. The project aims to explore sustainable solutions to address two specific societal challenges: food security, by focusing on seaweed farming, for its numerous contributions to food production, and coastal erosion, enhanced by climate-related hazards, like increasing storm intensity. Such challenges are globally acknowledged and addressed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with SDG 2.4, SDG 13.1, and SDG 14.2.
The project involves the collaboration between two Portuguese entities, HAEDES and IHRH, and the Norwegian University of Stavanger. This collaboration will benefit from all entities expertise in the domain of numerical modelling (HAEDES), physical modelling (IHRH) and structural design (University of Stavanger). The project comprises the following main activities:
- Definition of the Aquabreak offshore system (AOS) testing framework, concerning the state-of-the-art multi-purpose offshore systems, focusing on aquaculture and coastal protection; the initial design and parameterization of six potential solutions and a risk analysis.
- AOS physical modelling testing, involving the setting up the physical model for four solutions; conducting the laboratory experiments and data processing.
- AOS numerical modelling optimization. It involves the preparation and implementation of the numerical model and data processing.
- Case study validation of the optimized AOS. It involves the application of numerical modeling for the chosen solution to two pilot cases, one in Portugal and one in Norway.
At the end of the project activity reports will be delivered for each work package, along with patent submission proof, data files, scientific publications and a workshop will be performed.
Summary of project results
The AQUABREAK project aimed at developing a multi-purpose Nature-Based Solution, combining offshore aquaculture activities and coastal resilience. This was achieved through the implementation of a seaweed farming system that is intended to simultaneously promote wave energy dissipation to enhance coastal protection and sediment retention at the shoreline. The project was needed because there is still lack of practical studies on the implementation of the Nature-Based Solution in specific real-world context.
We initiated the project with extensive literature reserch to contextualize and position our works. Based on our research and team’s combined expertise in structural design, wave dissipation and biological interactions with hydrodynamic forces we established 6 solution designs for further considereation. We have then addressed the characterization of the physical and biological parameters to be considered in the implementation of the physical modelling, to select select, from the previous solutions, the ones that will proceed for testing.
This project was important because it will provide quantitative and qualitative results on the specific application of a Nature-Based solution of a combined aquaculture system and coastal protection structure. It provides a demonstration of the applicability of such a structure and an evaluation of the positive and negative impacts of its performance, needed for eventual future amelioration of the concept.
Summary of bilateral results
The project explores how to efficiently implement a Nature-Based Solution of a combined seaweedaquaculture system and coastal protection structure. Our donor project partner team, from the University ofStavanger (Norway) has extensive expertise in offshore structures and composite materials. Their expertiseis complementary to the expertise of the Portuguese teams. The donnor partner conducted an extensivereview on composite materials suitable for the development of the AQUABREAK solution and further withinthe project progress, they collaborated with numerical modelling of the solution’s structural behaviourassessment. It was important to have this partner on the team to fully address the project from the structuralpoint of view and try to achieve a robust result covering all aspects, relevant for a posterior implementation.In this sense, this collaboration led to an improvement in the Portuguese team’s knowledge in the specificpoint of the adequate composite materials to be considered in the AQUABREAK solution implementation andachieve an optimized design, adapted to the conditions it is expected to be exposed to.